Pilot's royal gifts sell for £10k at auction

Sqn Ldr Denis Lowery flew dignataries including Queen Elizabeth II, Shah of Iran, Carlos of Spain and Edward Heath

A collection of royal gifts given to an RAF pilot who repatriated the body of the Duke of Windsor has sold for more than £10,000 at auction.

It included a pair of gold cufflinks, presented by Queen Elizabeth II to former Sqn Ldr Denis Lowery, sold for more than four times its guide price/

Sqn Ldr Lowery's career highlights also included transporting Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip and Princess Anne on their 1972 tour of South East Asia.

Charles Hanson, of Hansons Auctioneers' saleroom in Penshurst, Kent, said: "Bids flew in from around the UK and the world, including Oman and New York."

He added: "Each of the items paid homage to a truly wonderful pilot and squadron leader with a truly international career."

A pair of 9ct gold cufflinks presented by Queen Elizabeth II sold for £1,700

The top-seller was a Middle Eastern-style 21ct gold necklace stamped with a khanjar, the national emblem of Oman, which sold for £3,100.

It was a present from the Sultan of Oman to Sqn Ldr Lowery in 1974.

A Breitling Navitimer watch, another gift from the sultan, sold for £1,050.

The gold cufflinks sold for £1,700 – more than four times its guide price of £400.

The collection, which had been expected to sell for between £5,500 and £9,000, sold for a total of £10,600.

The collection sold for £10,600 at Hansons Auctioneers Penshurst

In 1972, Sqn Ldr Lowery flew the body of Edward VIII to RAF Benson in Oxfordshire, three days after the Duke of Windsor died of throat cancer at his Paris home.

Other people that the pilot flew included the Shah of Iran, Ken Dodd, King Carlos of Spain, Betty Ford and Edward Heath.

He joined the RAF in 1947, based at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, and was responsible for conducting VVIP (Very, Very Important Person) including the royal family, government ministers and the prime minister.

After retiring, he moved back to Lechlade-on-Thame, in Gloucestershire, and then to Shipton under Wychwood in Oxfordshire.

Sqn Ldr Lowery died in 2012.